


The Sun is Thataway

by Estirose



Category: Pokemon GO
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-17 01:49:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13066617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Estirose
Summary: Hilda wants to concentrate on the upcoming Raid Battle, not listen to someone prattle on.





	The Sun is Thataway

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wneleh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wneleh/gifts).



> I considered how the game might be played if it wasn't played with cellphones, but closer to how the original commercials portrayed the Pokemon showing up.

"So," Hilda said reflectively to her niece Alexandra as they waited for the Legendary battle to start, "I hope this time we get this one." 

This gym had been on what had been State of California land, a strange little park raised slightly above a set of offices of sorts. Well, okay, maybe the State owned the rest of it and Niantic, the owner of all the Gyms and Stops, just leased it or something. There was an apartment complex off to one side, state offices to the north and east, and the tram stop right behind. At least there were benches to sit on as one waited, and lots of people were waiting to bring Groudon down. The gym was repersented by some kind of weird art piece sitting in the middle of the park, or at least Hilda had no idea what the hell they were thinking of when they installed it however many years ago.

Sometimes people swore there was another network along with the Pokestops and Gyms, one where people played some strange form of Capture the Flag and tried to find strange messages, but she had never encountered something like that. Probably it was some stupid Urban Legend.

"You waiting for the Groudon?" a man asked. Hilda looked up; he was a dark haired man who clearly needed to be walking a lot more kilometers than he was apparently was. He was leaning on the planter to the left of their bench, holding his glasses loosely in his hand. You needed the special glasses to see Pokemon, the Gyms and Pokestops. At least they were rechargable, but they went through power fast. Niantic was reportedly working on the issue.

"Yeah," Alexandra replied. "It's in about fifteen minutes, isn't it?"

"Believe so," he replied. "It's a nice place to have a Gym. Did you know that this area was all houses a couple of decades ago? Read it on some blog somewhere. Before all the office buildings took over. This place is part of that building complex across the street, you know."

"Well, that's interesting," Hilda said, though it really wasn't. She wasn't in the mood to discuss history when a Raid Battle was coming up.

"What kind of Pokemon are you bringing to this Raid Battle?" Alexandra asked, saving Hilda from having to hear any more history stuff.

"Gyrados, Snorlax, Alakazam, a few others. Yami, my Murkrow, would be really irritated if he missed on this, even if he isn't the most powerful."

"Yami's your partner?" Alexandra asked, sounding far more interested than she probably felt.

"Goshdarnit, my Gyrados, was actually my first partner. I found a Magikarp nest and hit it pretty damn hard for a few weeks, found some more, and repeated as needed." He chuckled. "But Yami - that's Japanese for 'dark' - is my current one. Can't wait until he can evolve. Maybe in a while my Pokedex will update with his evolution, if he has one. You?"

"I've got a few," Alexandra said, because Hilda had taught her not to give those out. "Strong ones, I think they should be enough." She looked over at him. "So, do you think Pokemon are real, or virtual reality?"

"Well, if they're virtual, they're programmed very well, based on what I saw with Goshdarnit and Yami. My friend says that they can still be virtual, and I can't say they aren't. I've never felt my Meowth sit on my lap or have Goshdarnit destroy my home. I know that some people swear they're real and that they've had their Pokemon cause problems in their house, but I'm not completely convinced."

Hilda had battled quite a few Gyrados, and knew they were big, not something that should be let loose in a house - if they were real, which she was pretty sure they were not. Hilda enjoyed catching them, enjoyed capturing Gyms, but it was all a game. She didn't name her partners like this man did.

"I can tell from your expression there that you and Noelia would get along great," the man said to Hilda. "She's the one I was talking about, Noelia. She was supposed to show up to this raid so if she - oh, there she is!" He waved at a black woman with - wait, was that purple hair? - that had just come upstairs.

She walked over to them. "So, Joel, have you been talking your head off, as usual?"

"You know I don't like to sit quietly waiting for the raid to start, I never do," Joel said to her. 

"You'll have to forgive Joel," Noelia said. "I'm sure he's told you all about his cats and how his Gyrados got its name."

"I actually didn't, you'd be proud of me," he said, smiling widely at Noelia. 

"Very long story short, he has three orange cats named Abra, Kadavra, and Alakazam, and his wife named Goshdarnit because they were someplace that no Magikarp had any right to be, in the middle of a park."

"Thank you for summarizing that for me," Joel said dryly. "I wasn't actually going to mention those. But yes, Goshdarnit was my second capture - my wife and I were still getting used to the glasses - and my wife said 'Goshdarnit, what's that fish doing here?' and the name stuck after I captured it."

"Oh," Alexandria said. At least she seemed to be following the conversation - or found it more interesting - than Hilda did. "Well, that is one way to name a Pokemon, I guess."

Hilda turned her attention to the tourists who were talking to each other on the sidewalk outside, talking to each other about finding the Gym. "The Gym's over here," she called in Swedish, hoping that she was understandable and using the correct words. Usually she wasn't.

"Tack så mykcket," she thought she heard back, them thanking her for the information. She hoped they arrived in time - the Raid was starting soon.

"Don't even ask," she heard Noelia telling Joel, who was probably gearing up to ask about what she'd said. "Just go find someone else to chat with for the next few minutes, okay?"

"I guess I could do that," Joel said, as Hilda returned her attention to him. Alexandria smiled as if he had been the most interesting person ever and she was sorry to see him go, even if they both wanted him to go away. "Thanks for listening, all! Gotta find a comfortable spot for this."

Hilda nodded at that, putting her glasses on and materializing one of her Pokeballs in her hand. Her starting Snorlax wasn't perfect, but it didn't need to be. No matter what Team everybody was on, no matter how boring some of the other players could be, she enjoyed just being there, fighting with everybody else. That, after all, was all that mattered in the end.


End file.
